Kyarazen posts a more or less monthly digest of informative articles, covering everything from fine tea to fine agarwood. I found this months to be most informative and timely, covering the two obvious lines of soil agarwoods on the market, as well as in depth information and pictures of what you should be looking for when you put large amounts of money out for wood which in many cases is coming from 1000’s of miles away with a “no return” policy. The article clearly points out how to tell the difference between what used to be traded as opposed to what is being sold in the last few years as meager copies. While many incense users only notice this as a decline in the quality of the incense stick they used to love, it was most noticeable in the quality of wood being sold out of Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and today, even from Japan as the last of the old logs are consumed. While I got to see only a sampling of this decline during my 25+ years of trading in the wood, it is hard to beat Kyarazen’s view from Ground 0, so to speak, in Singapore, as well as the vast amount of research that he has done over the years. I really appreciated seeing the pictures of what is no longer possible to obtain (barring a lottery win, inheritance, etc.), as well as concise and easy to understand information. The article can be read here http://www.kyarazen.com/soil-agarwoods/

I have closed discussion on this thread now that it as died down. The primary reason for this is because I’ve spent quite a bit of time listening to everyone involved, believe that everyone has had their say at this point, and do not want to get into it any further.

I had temporarily turned the previous offer from JK De Lapp private, but the intro paragraph has been edited, so please reread. One of my staff writers strongly believes that the wood pictured in the offer is not kyara. I’ve also received some documentation from JK on what’s being offered that I have not had a chance to digest yet, but at this moment I don’t think this is going to avoid controversy. Now while I do, I am going to allow comments on this thread if people want to discuss this issue. I am saying up front that civility is absolutely required here, discussion about the wood and the subject is fine, but no attacks on people please. I have respect for both JK and my staff, yet I am definitely not the person to judge the outcome of this. But I do want to make sure the post reflects any concerns.

The following is a message from our good friend J. K. DeLapp at Rising Phoenix. Please direct all inquiries to the e-mail address below. Comments are disabled on this post. There has been some controversy over this offer (including a member of my staff, someone highly respected when it comes to this subject), so I would like to direct your attention to the comments section of this page which I have opened up for discussion. These comments include JK’s documentation about kyara, which, even if you’re not going to go for the offer, is very informative and interesting and worth the read. I want to reiterate that JK runs a sound business and the controversy over whether this is kyara or not should not reflect on his ability to deliver on this offer. I have allowed civil discussion in the above linked thread because it’s not for me to make the call on what is kyara or not, but at least it should give the buyer information in order to make their choice. – Mike

Hello!

I’m in the process of getting my hands on some Kyara dusts – namely Red and Yellow Kyara dust.

Reliable supplier whom I’ve done business with for a long time.

The material is sourced from a construction company that uncovers the materials on building projects (as most Kyara is buried in the soil between 1-5 meters). So – this is definitely ethical material. 😃

The dusts are of superb quality, comes from “breakaway” loose pieces when the chunks are unearthed, and is ideal for making compounding further into incense – or using as is. Less than rice grain quantity is needed for use on it’s own – and will fragrance a room for hours. I use it in my clinic to great affect!

Whereas the price of buying Kyara is often closer to $750 per gram, these Red and Yellow Kyara dusts are being offered at the nominal price of $75 per gram.

I’m purchasing a fairly large quantity (part of why I’m getting a great price) – and could use a little help with the hefty bill of the large score.

Would be great if folks could handle picking up 1 or 3 or 5 or 10 (or more) grams!

**This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to pick up the rarest of incense materials at a fraction of the market price.

Payment would be up front – and I’ll have the material direct from the source in 3-4’ish weeks. I can then ship the quantity you’ve purchased directly to you.

A little goes a LONG way in compounding incense (used kind of like “salt and pepper” in food…just a pinch is all that’s needed) – or can be used as is for the most luxurious experience.

Again – this is for Red Kyara and/or Yellow Kyara dust. This is known as “breakaway dust” from larger pieces (as they are cleaned of any loose pieces), which is why I am able to get such a phenomenal price on this incredibly rare material.

This offer is a bit time sensitive – so if you’re interested – please do speak up ASAP!

I’ve tried to make Olfactory Rescue Service a place where you can share complaints about businesses, but what I had in mind was when there is a serious problem, like if someone runs off with your money for good. And yet I’ve let some minor complaints through and unfortunately what this has done, particularly in Essence of the Ages case, is send people over here en masse to complain about things that actually should be directed to the business itself. We do realize that over the last year or two Essence has changed the shipping times from within a few days to seven business days. This is now clearly stated on the site. And seriously if it goes over a business day, let’s not complain. I realize we want our incense as fast as possible but let’s not pretend that most incense businesses are corporations on the level of Amazon who have the infrastructure to deal with things in a way one single person running a business can’t. One thing I have noticed is that when Beth gets a complaint here, she will respond to it and 4 times out of 5 there isn’t a counter response, because her logic is tight. On the other hand, I think people need to pay close attention when something is out of stock. If you don’t want to wait for something to restock let her know that on the order when you place it. Believe it or not, I don’t work for any of these businesses and yet I’m having to play middleman in a way I don’t really have as much time for at the moment due to other concerns. But I do know that Beth is good people and I’ve probably let out the leash too far on letting things pass through here and I’d bet money the incense orders would go out faster if she didn’t have to keep explaining herself or replying to repetitive emails. Just have some patience. Be good people yourself.

From now on, one’s complaints must be serious for me to let it pass through. You see some of the complaints here have been petty about people who have been almost extraordinarily generous. Complaints about Mermade for example better be damn convincing, because the evidence is far more in favor of extreme generosity than it is about making mistakes about orders. If I have to be honest by allowing complaints against people who process orders above board, I should be equally honest when I know the business integrity of someone as well. Let us be kind to each and understanding to each other.

Also, and I think I’ve said this before, if you’re a stranger complaining, I’m going to be very likely about deleting complaints unread, because unfortunately most of you don’t come back when your complaint is responded to by the business. People who read these complaints should pay attention to the responses and not automatically assume a complaint is valid if a business follows up.

Finally, let’s be clear about who runs Olfactory Rescue Service. It’s not any of these businesses. It’s me and my staff. I will explain the rules as kindly as I can and I will do the utmost to be honest and fair. But I have no fear of moderating severely when these rules are not respected. I would prefer the site to be as drama free as possible.

I’ve actually been amazed at the amount of spam that goes through here from incense sites and I do my best to keep it off the site. I’ve recommended on a number of occasions that businesses interested in getting some exposure to contact me first and amazingly, this actually happened, one of the first for sure! Anyway just as a reminder the links on the left are from shops where I am confident they will deliver good service either from personal experience or from one of our staff or if I hear enough good things from our regular readers, people who I see frequently here (that is if a stranger shows up and goes hey this one’s good, well we’d need a little more than that) although we’d still appreciate your recommendation.

Anyway I am happy to have heard from Jim at Zen Minded in the UK. Please check out his site and better yet let us know what kind of experience you had in this thread!